Helloooooooooo

OMG best weekend ever.

We went camping. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I definitely was NOT on board with this whole camping thing. I went along with it because my husband desperately wanted to go.  The first time we went was fun, but we got about 1,000 ticks by the end of the weekend. 

Gun shy, the next time we went, I opted for a place with WIDE OPEN SPACES and no hikes! However it was a very popular "float trip" place, which apparently translates into "drunken awful scenes" - or it did across from our campsite!

Not this past weekend. This past weekend was a conglomerate of PERFECT conditions. We met up with friends at the campsite. They were 10 sites down from us.  The state part was amazingly family-friendly (ie, no drunken debauchery), paved (good for toddler bike rides!) and the hiking - OH the hiking!! - was amazing. 

Our site was RIGHT on a creek. Friday AM I skipped my run (although I worked out Mon-Thurs last week, yay!) but still managed to hit my 10K (and then some) steps. 

Saturday we went on a COLOSSAL hike. Obviously we didn't hike 10 miles, my kids never would have made it through that! But I was about about 9K when we ended our hike (2500 when we started) so it was a pretty significant stretch! The views were amazing, we walked through and played in a creek, found crawfish, built a dam, climbed "mountains" and spotted wildlife. NO ticks, thankyouverymuch. 

I swear my daughter was with us too, but since we were with her "best friend," I don't have any pictures of just her :-) 

Even the dog got in on it (This is pretty impressive for a 12 year old golden retriever ;-) He walked himself up there!  He did, however, take the steps down, not the slide. 

I will be definitely going back to this site. In fact, I found myself looking at open dates ASAP to try to get back! This is something "old me" never would have done.  At one point during our hike, I could tell my kids were starting to fade. We all sat down for a snack time and my family went wandering around the water. I knew the trail would meet up with the "go home" loop soon , but I wasn't sure how soon and wanted to see if we could hop on that trail from where we were, instead of continuing on.  So I found a way, across rocks in the river, to get to the other side. Then I climbed the "hill" (I swear it should have been a mountain!) to figure out if the flat part was a trail. "Old me" NEVER would have done that. I would have waited for someone else to figure it out, someone else to go forage ahead to find the path. I would have sat down and waited.  But I'm all about moving forward now. 

So let's do it. Let's move forward!! 

Big few weeks. Our very own JEN is getting married in a few weeks. I still have to fit into that bridesmaid dress, so here's hoping I can shed some lbs before then!  After that, I have a beach vacay coming up. Hoping to be comfortable in my own skin by then, at least. I know I'll never wear a bikini again (you know, because I did once) but I would at least like to be comfortable with myself by the time that happens. 

My daily runs will get me there, I'm sure!!   Here's a quick rundown of my last few runs: 

I've been pretty down on myself for my speed on these runs. Then I remember - I am used to running flat ground or a treadmill. I have been running some HUGE hills lately! I know I am building muscle and challenging myself in ways I haven't before. That makes my slower times a little more acceptable to me.  I did run on a treadmill last week in my circuit class at 9.0 for almost an entire 1:15 minutes! Doesn't sound like a lot? Get on a treadmill going 9.0 and tell me it's short ;-) 

Last week: 

Mon: Lifting, circuit class 

Tues: Run 2.26 miles

Wed: Run 1.02 miles

Thurs: Kickboxing, 60 minutes

Friday: CAMPING. 

I feel PROUD of what I'm doing. 

Challenge Day 1

So I'm not even officially sure all the things I need to do for this challenge, but boy am I ready! 

This morning my alarm went off at 4:30. I sat up, ready for a run, until - I realized it's DARK at 4:30am. And I 'm a wuss - no running in the dark for me! So I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until too late to run. 

BUT I did have a solution. I worked today (weird because I don't' work on Mondays!) but after work I headed straight to the gym and my favorite kickboxing class! Booya 700 calories! 

I drank my required water too, 5x15 oz glasses at work, a bottle at kickboxing and a glass of water with dinner! 

So far I'm kicking butt. Here's hoping I can get up and run tomorrow! Jen and I are eating at a restaurant called CHEESEOLOGY tomorrow, which is probably as fattening as it sounds :-) So hopefully I can get a good run in the morning to justify some of those yummy calories. 

My official first weigh in weight: 159.
Goals: Hoping to get back to comfy weight of 153 by mid-July and maybe even 150 by August 1. 

Days 6 & 7 - Reevaluation

Ok so today's a two-fer.

Saturday

• Bedtime will be 9pm on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. n/a
• Alcohol will be two nights a week (it's been getting a little out of hand! Definitely part of the lbs being packed on!) Drink night #3, oops. 
• If I miss a day of working out, I WILL NOT throw in the towel  Agree. This one is hard since I've been hurting since Thursday night. 
• Same as above, if I don't keep a PERFECTLY clean day, I will NOT take comfort in the candy dish. Yay! I had a s'more Saturday night - ONE s'more.
• Goal: 15,000 steps/day. If it means I march around my house for an hour before bed, so be it.  BAH. My FitBit was dead in the morning and I Forgot to put it on until about 1pm. So my total for the day was 3458. 

Saturday: Run - nope. Back still hurting pretty bad :(

Sunday

• Bedtime will be 9pm on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. n/a
• Alcohol will be two nights a week (it's been getting a little out of hand! Definitely part of the lbs being packed on!) None! I did try a sip of a new beer at our favorite restaurant, but didn't have a full glass of it. So three days total this week, only breaking my "rule" by 1. 
• If I miss a day of working out, I WILL NOT throw in the towel. The pain is almost gone today and we were supposed to go on a nice family bike ride. however when we woke up it was pouring rain and when the sun came out, the temp went up to 90 and the humidity was UNBEARABLE! We did some walking around the mall but that was the extent of it. I am, however, very anxious to get back to the gym tomorrow to test out my back. If all is well, I'll be doing my two classes in the AM and kickboxing in the evening.
• Same as above, if I don't keep a PERFECTLY clean day, I will NOT take comfort in the candy dish. The s'more last night whetted my appetite for sweets, I could tell that this morning. I fought myself all day not to sneak a Hershey's kiss or to drink a Fitz's root beer. But I didn't do it! I did have some pineapple to cut the sweet tooth. 
• Goal: 15,000 steps/day. If it means I march around my house for an hour before bed, so be it. 6,360 today.

Sunday: Insanity - nursing the back pain. Tomorrow I'm back to it.

Thanks for sticking with me this week! Thank you for all of the encouragement, the texts in the morning and the check-ins on how I'm doing. I had a discouraging day today. I went to grab some more work clothes and didn't fit into almost anything. But I did get a cute dress to wear to Jen's rehearsal dinner! Yay! I can see the changes that have been made in a short week of "making it work." That is making me want to try harder!

• I'm going to be more diligent about the bedtime. 
• I am going to lower my steps. Let's see if I can hit 10,000 everyday this week and what I need to do to get there and THEN we'll raise it up! 
• I'm going to add: 
• Drink 100oz of water/day
• Stay away from negative self talk. <-- Since I posted about body image last week, 3-4 other articles have come through my FB and Twitter feeds. I've been passing them along on those sites, but it just strikes me how many there have been! It seems as though I'm supposed to get something from it. Kind of makes you say Hmmmm doesn't it?   So this is going to be a new addition to my accountability list! I don't know exactly how to quantify it, but I am going to try to recognize those moments when I do it, and stop myself. Accepting compliments without making excuses, not changing my clothes 20 times even after everyone tells me I look fine in what I have on, definitely not talking about these things in front of my kiddos....  These will be my victories.

So next week's check in will look more like this: 

Bedtime before 9:30:

Alcohol (?/2): 

Workout: 

Eating: 

Steps: 

Water: 

Self-talk: 

Day 4, a day late.

• Bedtime will be 9pm on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday.  n/a for Thursday :-) 
• Alcohol will be two nights a week (it's been getting a little out of hand! Definitely part of the lbs being packed on!) None
• If I miss a day of working out, I WILL NOT throw in the towel  Kickboxing FTW
• Same as above, if I don't keep a PERFECTLY clean day, I will NOT take comfort in the candy dish. I had a piece of primal fudge but nothing else "bad" 
• Goal: 15,000 steps/day. If it means I march around my house for an hour before bed, so be it.  11,250. Starting to think 15,000 is unattainable for a "normal" day, especially with my workouts being more stationary with the Insanity videos....

Thursday: Insanity AM or during the day Kickboxing.

Sure am happy Friday is an 'off' day because I hurt my back again during kickboxing! I think it has to do with the size of the room! On Mondays we are in a small room and are all sardined in. But Thursdays we are in a bigger room and I think there are less people. I think I am hyper-extending, especially when kicking backwards, which is causing me SEVERE back pain!!